Hailey and I are in the midst of calculating whether we can afford an international getaway of some kind this year. I’ve kept my job (things look promising in that regard) and her business is doing well, but nonetheless, it still feels different this year with the economy so crummy and who-knows-what around the corner.
We think we’ve settled on a plan, and we’re just waiting word from a potential gig for her before we book, but in the midst of this I saw a Facebook ad that literally screamed opportunity to me: On Location Workshop – Photography Class in Varenna, Italy.
First off, Varenna is a very special spot for me and Hailey. We stopped there in May 2005 to recover from jetlag after my first trans-Atlantic flight and we were immediately seduced. It’s a compact little work of art that’s nestled on a bump in the shoreline on Lake Como. Flowers drip from the buildings, Italians laze on the shore doing nothing, and the Lake Como ferries ease into the dock every 15 minutes with the bored conductor beautifully droning the boat’s destinations on a loud speaker: “Bel-LA-GI-o, Men-AH-gi-O.” Even boredom is musical in Italy.
Most significantly to me, I believe that Varenna is the place where Photography snuck up and did a bodyslam on Writing as my top passion. They had been wrestling since high school, and I’d become an editor by trade, but downloading images onto the laptop at night began to take on more meaning than my faltering, rambling journal entries. I can only imagine what results I’d get shooting Varenna now, four years later and a whole hell of a lot better at photography (plus, with a better camera and better lenses).
What’s more, running simultaneously to the class I’m interested in is one taught by a photographer I greatly admire — Vincent Laforet. Laforet has sick talent. If I haven’t sent you to his portfolio site or blog just yet, please check it out. His images of Katrina and Pakistan are heartbreaking, eye-opening and they’re not easy to shake. Same goes for his work on the Paniolo Cowboys, but in a very different, less visceral way.
Anyhow, I currently don’t have interest in learning video, which is the course he’s teaching, but I’d love to meet him. Problem is, the course is a few thousand bucks when all is said and done, and I just don’t think it’ll happen. Nonetheless, it’s amazing when things like this converge and they get you thinking….
You know. Currently things are getting cheaper and if you job prospects are as good as you say, go. There is no better time than now. You can always find reasons not to go, but most of them are excuses for being lazy.
[...] the Varenna class this week reminder her that she had not seen the end result yet, so she emailed them yesterday and [...]
Cool set of photos. It make me want to go traveling. Nice work!
Thank you…if that’s the feeling they inspire, it must be working!
[...] Italy (where to begin) – This cup starts in Varenna and has traversed the entire Boot wherever we’ve gone: the cappuccino. I had my first real [...]